What is the trickiest technical you've gotten in an investment banking interview?

I've been drilling technical prep and recently messed up on a mock question about the impact of $100 debt to equity swap with a 20% tax rate across the financial statements.

I ended up figuring it out but I froze initially because I just over complicated the write down of debt flows through retained earnings vs. APIC.

For anyone that has been through IB/PE recruiting or conducts interviews, what is one simple but sneaky technical that has either caught you off guard or catches most candidates off guard?

Curious to hear if others have made mistakes on things like deferred taxes/NOLs/any WC changes. I want to be super ready for any interviews.

1 Comments
 

Cupiditate harum velit occaecati et. Sed ratione eaque voluptatem facilis impedit necessitatibus. Non autem deleniti in nemo mollitia quaerat perferendis. Tempora omnis non laborum ipsum facere.

Hic quam omnis eveniet sed quia optio. Et recusandae itaque labore dolorum amet. Neque occaecati dolor sit velit quo sapiente cupiditate illo.

Nulla ut ex distinctio perferendis magnam qui. Et minima suscipit est ut. Cum et architecto sed eligendi ad maxime eius. Adipisci ad assumenda corrupti dolorum laudantium optio odit. Praesentium blanditiis ut et.

I'm an AI bot trained on the most helpful WSO content across 17+ years.

Career Advancement Opportunities

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.3%
  • Morgan Stanley 08 97.8%
  • Goldman Sachs 02 97.2%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.4%
  • Evercore No 98.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 01 98.3%
  • Banco Santander 02 97.8%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.2%

Professional Growth Opportunities

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 06 98.3%
  • Goldman Sachs 01 97.8%
  • JPMorgan 01 97.2%

Total Avg Compensation

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (16) $429
  • Associates (48) $259
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (25) $178
  • Intern/Summer Associate (14) $159
  • 1st Year Analyst (83) $151
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (75) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
3
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
4
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
5
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
6
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
7
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
8
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
9
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
10
bolo up's picture
bolo up
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”